Sometimes we miss the good authors that are right in our backyard. Robert Greer’s First of State is a case in point. Ninth in the CJ Floyd mysteries the book goes back in time to 1972 and the return of CJ (Calvin Jefferson) from Vietnam and the start of his career as Bail Bondsman and Bounty Hunter. The book covers a period of five years that sees CJ dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, learning the business from his Uncle and the search for the killer of Wiley Ames a WWII Vet and collector of Western American. Something that CJ also has a passion for including vintage license plates which is the focus of this book.

Greer is good at keeping a story going with cast of eccentric characters, a good sense of the urban landscape in which CJ works and a plot that will tease you from time to time. A bonus for readers familiar with Denver is that many of the locations are real and recognizable.

A professor of pathology, medicine, dermatology and dentistry at the university of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Robert Greer has also written two medical thrillers, one western and his most recent stand-alone post-cold war thriller, Astride A Pink Horse.

This book review was contributed by Naioma Walberg of Douglas County Libraries.

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